Coming Home

Cassadee looked at the mountain of new letters and emails she had to sift through and groaned. Her article had been a success, but she didn’t quite care. All she wanted to do was to ignore all the emails and revel for a moment, in what she had achieved. No one quite looked at her the same way again.

She felt the power of being a working, successful adult coursing beneath her. Lee had offered her a position as a freelance journalist and reporter, giving her executive coverage on political commentaries and interviews. She had scheduled numerous interviews with underdogs from various political groups. It didn’t matter if they wanted to exploit her, they could never change what she would write. And she would write about the truth. It’s all she ever wanted.

As far as she knew, Tobias had now replaced Derrick in the political spotlight, and he had claimed that he was ‘eternally grateful’ for what she had done and that they were friends. Speaking of the devil, Cassadee had arranged to meet Tobias at the bar for a drink and to play a game of pool. It was a working day, and his presence would ward away any lingering men.

~

“Hey Derrick.”

“Sasha?”

Derrick looked out of his office to see his ‘bone-pal’ standing outside, a smirk on her face, wavy, beachy curls hanging from her head.

“What are you doing here?”

“Figured you missed me,” she smiled a glossy smile before setting herself opposite.

“You couldn’t just meet me after work?”

“I was kidding Derrick, I’m here on a company exchange,” she shrugged, and Derrick felt himself curl inwards, the way a small boy would when he reflected on his past. He had come home, to where he was pure, and now his dirty companion from college had arrived.

“You’re still single are you?” She asked him, pursing her lips. Looking coldly at her, he nodded, before realizing that Sasha didn’t necessarily know about his past. It would be unfair to deny their relationship and friendship.

“I’ll be done in 15, then we’ll go for a drink okay?”

She smiled another sly smile before nodding.

~

“Hey short stuff,” Tobias smiled as he greeted Cassadee at the entrance of The Red Thorn.

“Hey cocksucker,” she winked, a devious little smile.

“Is this where I call you a titty biter?”

“Oh please, Jared has an excellent and well-functioning gaydar.”

“I like chicks too you know.”

“Whatever you say cocksucker.”

Tobias groaned as he trailed after Cassadee into the bar where they both got separate shots and collided roughly at the pool table.

“Just because you make people treat me seriously-“

“You get to bang me around?” laughed Cassadee, dropping the contents of her shot into her mouth like they were weighty bullets. She felt the liquid sear her throat as it burned down into her stomach.

“Touché princess,” grinned Tobias as he downed his shot and grabbed two cue sticks, handing one to Cassadee.

“What better way to celebrate your success than playing pool with this sex bomb.”

Tobias watched with amusement as Cassadee tried her best to sink a ball into the hole and failing miserable as she sent the white ball crashing haphazardly against the side of the table.

“I actually can think of better ways to celebrate. Move over short stuff, you’re obviously just here to get wasted cause you suck at this.”

~

Derrick walked into The Red Thorn with Sasha clinging onto him. There was blaring music pooling out from the speakers, but none of the words were clear enough to cloud his mind.

He didn’t like the way she dressed, too provocatively, with her hair hanging loosely over her bare shoulders. It reminded him of their relationship, one that was mutually inclusive, and very exclusive.

“Is this where you usually get your fix?”

“Yeah, it’s the only decent place around,” replied Derrick, steering both of them in the direction of the booth seats.

That’s when he saw them. Both Cassadee and Tobias together around a pool table surrounded by a weak halo of light. She looked so happy, better than she ever had in the past few days. That was when Derrick noticed their empty shot glasses. There was a strange chilling sensation over him as he just stopped moving and watched them both.

She was leaning heavily onto her pool table, watching as Tobias expertly manoeuvred ball after ball into the holes of the pool table. Evidently, there wasn’t much of a game going on. Derrick realised sourly, that he never got to know of her drinking habits, or engaged in simple teenage things like playing pool or going dancing.

He realised how time had passed and how times had changed. He never expected to see her in a pub with another guy, with a girl he used to sleep around with clung to him the way your clothes stick to you when you are drenched in the rain.

“Derrick, come on, you’ve been looking at that girl for the past minute. If you like her or something, just tell me. It’s not like I’ll mind,” Sasha said. Derrick realised that she had nestled into their booth comfortably in his moment of daze.

He watched Tobias finally missed a ball and Cassadee let out a rude snort before bending down to finally have her try. She missed again, and Tobias rolled his eyes, tapping her bottom with his cue stick as he walked past her. Instead of pushing him away like he wished she would have done, Cassadee accepted it- probably accompanied with a rude remark, but that was all he needed.

He suddenly didn’t feel like looking at her, or thinking about them anymore. He had the image of her with Tobias burned into his mind and now he just wanted it to go away. And with Sasha here, there was only one way both of them knew how.

“How long will you be here for?” He asked Sasha, tearing his eyes away from both Cassadee and Tobias. Sasha looked at him the way a lion would look at its prey, like she knew something he didn’t.

“I technically have to be back home tomorrow night, but my boss is sending me back here next week,” she said.

“Well then we should start drinking, now.”

~

“Ayyy, that’s 9 to 0.”

“Come on Tobias, I’m 4 to 2 on shots,” cooed Cassadee as she watched him sink in another ball.

“I’d drink more if you’d let me touch your ass.”

“I think you’d have to do that in order to enjoy tapping this ass,” Cassadee chimed in. She was just starting to feel a slight buzz. Apparently Tobias’s buzz had started after his second drink and he was trying his best, gay or not, to remain rightfully sober on their date.

“Alright alright, lay off the homosexual slurs you homophobic bitch.”

“I don’t get it are you gay or bi?”

Cassadee watched Tobias shrug, his green eyes reflecting the lights around them lazily. There was a sort of beauty in the way he moved, like he was a panther. He didn’t just walk around, he padded.

“I’ve had my fair share of both.”

“So definitely bi. Is there a period of preference?”

Tobias rolled his eyes, looking at Cassadee, trying to believe that this was the same girl who had penned two of the most talked-about articles in the year in the span of 2 weeks

“Less of periods and more of great personalities,” he shrugged.

“Do I have a great personality?” Tobias shot Cassadee a wary look, it was hard to tell if she was really drunk or not. But they had been talking quite a bit enough to be brutally honest with each other. It was a friendship that he never thought he needed until now, he had after all, been meddling with blurred lines ever since the FF hired him to be their playboy.

“Are you drunk?”

“Maybe?” She winked.

“Fine, hopefully you don’t remember this by tomorrow.”

“Remember what?”

“That I think you have a great personality, but I think you’re too straight for me,” Tobias said again. Straightening up her posture, Cassadee laughed.

“I’m not drink yet Tobias. But thanks for being honest,” she smiled.

“God dammit. How about you?”

“What about me?” Cassadee asked, suddenly unafraid of Tobias- throwing their hazy beginnings far away into a tiny corner of her mind.

“What’s stopping you from falling head over heels with me?”

Cassadee thought for a moment, before looking intently into Tobias’ eyes.

“It’s funny. Because technically I should be madly in love with you-“

“Yes, yes. Smart, intelligent and funny.”

“I don’t know,” Cassadee finally let out. But in truth, she did. And the reason for her not being madly infatuated with Tobias, or anyone else for that matter had just stalked out of the men’s room with another girl attached to his hip.

~

Sometimes I ask myself if he’s out there screwing up as much as I am. College seems to be a world away from everything else back home. There’s no commitment, there’s nothing. I can do whatever I want. I know I sound heartless, and with the way I’m acting, it’s clear that I am. But there’s a small part of me hoping that he isn’t screwing up, and that he still lets me haunt his brain like I’m forcefully haunted by him. It’s selfish I know.